‘Seeds,’ ‘Enron,’ ‘Kim’s Convenience’ in NAC’s 2013-14 theatre season

OTTAWA – A play that details a Saskatchewan farmer’s legal battle with biotech giant Monsanto is headed for Ottawa’s National Arts Centre.

Annabel Soutar’s “Seeds,” which ran in Toronto a year ago and stars former “Corner Gas” cast member Eric Peterson, will be part of the NAC’s 2013-’14 English theatre season that was unveiled Tuesday.

Artistic director Jillian Keiley’s inaugural season at the performing arts centre also includes “Enron,” Lucy Prebble’s 2009 play about the energy company’s accounting scandal, and the acclaimed Toronto-set play “Kim’s Convenience” by Ins Choi.

The season will open with a re-imagining of Moliere’s “Tartuffe,” adapted by and featuring Andy Jones, followed by a sing-a-long holiday production of “The Sound of Music.”

Other family shows in the season include “Dib and Dob and the Journey Home” by David S. Craig and Robert Morgan, and a production of Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.”

The NAC lineup also includes Robert Chafe’s “Oil and Water,” Raoul Bhaneja’s one-man version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” and Cliff Cardinal’s one-man show “Huff.”

Keiley says she built the season around the 10-member ensemble that was brought together through six months of auditions across the country.

“Rather than programming the season and then slotting the right actors into it, we’re beginning to shift our approach towards finding the right actors first — and then the scripts that will make them shine,” Keiley said in a statement.

“Each season will feature a new array of stars from stages across the country.”

As part of the NAC’s new approach to theatre collaborations, Keiley also travelled the country to find plays she believes in.

She says the plan is to support the development and premieres of those plays in their own communities in the hopes the works will eventually appear on the NAC stage.

“It’s like investment banking for theatre,” said Keiley. “It takes a lot of time to bring a great work to the stage. It’s exciting to think some of the excellent works we’re investing in now will eventually be seen by NAC audiences.”